


To Be At Peace

by lookatthesefreakinghipsters



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Bittersweet, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Love at First Sight, Undying Lands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 20:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3542249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookatthesefreakinghipsters/pseuds/lookatthesefreakinghipsters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Legolas and Gimli leave Middle-Earth for the Undying Lands, Legolas approaches his old friend and invites her to join him.  Tauriel has walked in starlight alone for centuries and peace has eluded her, but perhaps she can find it in the Undying Lands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Be At Peace

"Tauriel," Legolas' voice broke through the silent, starry night. She turned, balancing delicately on the large tree branch from where she had been watching the starlight.

"Legolas," she said, a small smile on her lips. "It is good to see you, my lord." She affected a small bow, then asked, "What brings you to Harlindon?"

"I have come to speak with you, Tauriel. May we walk?" he asked and she replied with a curt nod. Legolas smiled, a little broader than normal, seeing his friend had not changed so much in their time apart. "You were once not so easy to sneak up on. What if I had been an orc?"

"If you had been an orc, you would have been dead long before you spoke to me," she answered, turning her hand over to reveal a dagger in her sleeve.

Legolas nodded in appreciation at her and admired the beauty of the knife. "It is a remarkable piece," he said.

"The lady Dís gave it to me upon her passing. It once belonged to her husband and she said that she wanted a member of her family to have it," Tauriel said, running a finger along the flat of the blade, gently, her eyes distant.

Legolas ducked under a tree branch along the path and said, "You have made a good life here, so close to the Blue Mountains."

"Speak plainly, Legolas," she snapped, looking levelly at her one-time prince, no longer willing to travel down these paths of memory.

"Tauriel," Legolas said, unable to meet her gaze, "King Elessar is dead. I shall leave for the Undying Lands soon, but I could not leave my captain of the guard."

Tauriel stifled a laugh of derision and bit back, "I haven't been your captain for two centuries. I was banished. And even...even when Thranduil renounced the exile, it was not my home." She waved a hand at her surroundings. "These woods, this land, these people...Dís, they were my home."

"Were?"

Tauriel glanced down at the ground and frowned. "Are."

"Our time is finished here. Come to the Undying Lands with me." When Tauriel didn't reply, he added, "The ship will be finished in two months, we leave from Ithilien on Inenedh." Touching her arm gently, he asked, "Are there any left alive who you still love?"

As Legolas let go of her and turned to leave, she asked, "Will Gimli be on the ship?"

Facing away from her, he replied, "He is a dwarf, he is not permitted in the Undying Lands."

"You did not answer my question, my lord."

"I would not leave him behind. We shall go together or not at all."

Tauriel touched a small pouch attached to her hip that carried the last few treasures she still had. "They will not allow him to come to the Undying Lands."

"I will not leave him."

"You have changed, my lord."

"So do we all," he replied. "First light of Inenedh, my captain," he added, before walking away into the darkness.

-

"Will she come?" Gimli asked, as he lowered himself onto a bench on the ship, joints creaking painfully under the stress. The sun was still a few minutes from rising, but there was no sight of Tauriel.

Legolas shook his head, "I do not think so, my old friend. She was born to Middle Earth, the Undying Lands hold less sway over her than over those elves who came here so many years ago."

"Oh?" Gimli asked, stretching out his aching leg, "Then why are we going?"

"Because it is the last land we haven't explored together," Legolas replied, sitting next to the old dwarf and taking Gimli's hand in his own. Gimli pulled Legolas' hand to his lips and placed a tender kiss against it.

"Permission to board?" a voice asked, interrupting them. "If the invitation is still valid?"

Legolas and Gimli looked up and saw Tauriel standing on the railing of the ship, balancing there. "Of course, lass," Gimli replied, "always room for one more."

Tauriel hopped down gracefully onto the deck of the ship and laid her bags down. "Thank you."

Gimli stood up, though his body protested. He waved off Legolas when he tried to help him up and shot him a glance of annoyance. "My lady Tauriel," he said, bowing.

"My lord Gimli, of Durin's Line, it is my great honour to meet you," she replied, returning his bow. "But please, I am just Tauriel."

"It is my honour," he replied, "I have heard of your exploits during the Battle of the Five Armies and of your feats during your time as the captain of the guard and they do you great credit. And it's just Gimli, for me as well."

As Legolas readied the ship to leave, he smiled at the way Tauriel and Gimli chatted behind him, sounding more like old friends rather than new acquaintances.

-

On the fourth night of their voyage, Gimli came across Tauriel watching the stars, holding a small stone in her hand, rubbing it gently. "Good evening," he said, startlingly her out of her quiet contemplation.

"Good evening," she replied, putting the stone away in her pouch.

"May I ask a personal question?" Gimli asked, sitting down next to her.

"You may, but I do not guarantee that I shall answer it."

Gimli laughed a little at that, his white beard bouncing against his chest. "Kíli and Fíli were very dear to me. Will you speak to me of their last days?"

Tauriel's mouth felt dry, the realization that almost all remaining living memory of Kíli and Fíli was leaving Middle Earth on that small boat sitting heavy in her chest, but she nodded. "I saved Kíli from a spider in Mirkwood and then put him in prison and he..." she laughed, a small, sad laugh, "he asked me if I wanted to check in his trousers for weapons."

Gimli laughed heartily at that, a few tears leaking from his eyes. "He was so young then. He should have been old in the end, like me."

Brushing away a few of her own leaking tears, she nodded. "Fíli, when the guard put him in the cell, he must have removed at least six knives and two swords. I even think we must have missed some as Fíli still had a couple of knives that were clearly dwarfish make when we were in Laketown together. I'm not even sure how someone could even carry that many weapons and not cut themselves constantly."

"Oh, I'm willing to bet you that he did, he just wouldn't have admitted it. Fíli tried so hard to be the perfect dwarf, the perfect warrior, the perfect prince."

"Kíli and I, if he had been an elf or I a dwarf, we would have called it love at first sight. As it was, it was too strange to imagine such a feeling between an elf and a dwarf and we didn't recognize it for what it was. He realized it first, though, and he gave me this runestone," she said, pulling out the stone Gimli had seen her with earlier. It was worn down to a small, smooth, flat stone, any trace of runes long gone.

"I saw him die. Kíli died to save me," she continued, flatly, empty. "So many years and I just wanted to ask him why." Tauriel rubbed the stone, the way she had for so many years. "But I know why, because if I could have, I would have died for him."

"Life was not fair to Fíli and Kíli," she concluded.

"No, lass, it wasn't," Gimli agreed.

-

To Tauriel's surprise, their ship passed with no issues to the Bay of Eldamar. They docked and were greeted by none other than the Lady Galadriel and Lord Elrond. "Gimli," Galadriel said, "it pleases my heart to see you once more, elf-friend."

"And mine, my gracious lady," he said, managing, to his own surprise, not to stumble over his words.

"I see that Legolas would not leave you behind, even though this is not the fate of the sons of Aulё," Elrond said. "There are few loves in Middle-Earth that could defy the decree of the Valar."

Legolas walked over and took Gimli's hand in his. "How could I leave him?"

"You could not," Tauriel said, softly, her eyes downcast.

Galadriel turned her gaze towards the younger Silvan elf. "Worry not, young Tauriel. Kíli awaits in the Hall of Mandos with his kin and friends. He is at peace, as you will be here."

"Thank you, my lady," she said, her smile tight on her face.

"Come with us," Galadriel said, waving them into the Undying Lands.

-

Galadriel was right, Tauriel felt more at peace than she had in decades there, yet she often found herself climbing trees in the evening to stare at the starlight and to hold a old runestone in her fingers.

Yavanna saw the young elf, lost even in the land of peace, and her heart was moved. Going to her husband, she said, "My love, there is an elf who mourns her lost love."

"Tauriel," he stated. "I cannot release Kíli to her, you know that. He must stay in the Halls of Waiting with the rest of his people."

"Must he? For all the days?" she asked, her eyes blazing with starlight.

"Perhaps...not all the days," Aulё conceded. "One day a year, I will grant him, if he so wishes. I cannot guarantee that he will want to see her, after all these years."

"He will," replied Yavanna, serenely.

-

Tauriel lay in the twilight between sleep and wakefulness when Yavanna came to her. The Ainu held out her hand to Tauriel and whispered, "Come with me, daughter of Middle-Earth, and know peace."

Tauriel reached out her hand, which shook a little. Yavanna led her and though Tauriel was walking, it felt like she was flying. After an unknown amount of time of travelling, they stopped and Tauriel saw Aulё standing in this strange forest. "Tauriel," he rumbled, his voice that of gravel, of the earth, of the rocks, "my wife has pled your case. You will have one day each year. I hope it is enough."

A look of confusion flashed over Tauriel's face and she started, "I...I...don't..." when a smaller figure stepped out from behind Aulё. "Kíli!" she cried and they ran towards each other, wrapping themselves in each other's arms.

"Tauriel," he said, "my beautiful starlight."

Pulling away, she took his face in her hands, drinking it in, memorizing every feature, every line, then pulled him back into another hug. Over his shoulder, she looked at the two Ainu and whispered, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Aulё inclined his head in acknowledgement and Yavanna smiled and curtsied. She pulled on her husband's sleeve, leading him away and leaving Tauriel and Kíli of them alone in the forest.

As Tauriel and Kíli pulled apart, she put their foreheads together, ignoring her tears. Kíli reached a hand up and wiped them away, touching her cheeks. "A thousand nights I have dreamed of this moment," he said.

"I have missed you for a thousand nights," she replied. Pressing a kiss into the corner of his mouth, she pulled him down, into a small patch of heather. As they lay there together, her head resting against his chest, wrapped in each other's arms, Tauriel finally felt the true feeling of peace that had eluded her for so many years in Middle-Earth and in the Undying Lands.

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't read The Silmarillion for about a decade now, so I hope I haven't gotten too many details wrong!
> 
> My headcanon for Tauriel post-Hobbit is that she wanted to tell Dis that Fili and Kili were dead, so she made the trek to the Blue Mountains personally and that Dis, recognizing Tauriel's love for Kili, treated her as a part of the family, so Tauriel stayed there and made a life for herself. She came to love Dis and the dwarfs of the Blue Mountains as family, but after Dis died, she wanted to go back to forest so she settled in the woods at the foot of the Blue Mountains.
> 
> I'm also on [tumblr](http://lookatthesefreakinghipsters.tumblr.com/)!


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